In "Baseball Karma and The Constitution Blues," Ronnie Norpel provides a play-by-play, behind-the-scenes account of a young woman's education in life, luck, love and superstition while working for her hometown major league baseball team. The book is steeped in authenticity from Norpel's days as a front office rep for the Philadelphia Phillies. Norpel's ficto-memoir brims with insider insight, detailing the fastballs, curve balls and errors experienced by main character Mary Katharine "Mick" Carmichael when she gets involved with a rookie on the Constitution Blues team. "Baseball Karma and The Constitution Blues" overflows with heart and humor, without glossing over the despair of karmic growing pains for both Mick and the Blues. Underneath it all, we discover how one woman's real-life curse changed destiny-until it was finally lifted for good. Norpel's rookie novel is must-read for all superstitious fans who worship at the Church of Baseball!

"Fueled by coffee and pea soup, Jack Kerouac speed-typed On the Road in just three weeks in April 1951. He'd been travelling America for the past ten years and now, at last, the energy of his experiences flowed through his fingertips in a mad rush, pealing forth on a makeshift scroll that he laboriously taped together. The On the Road scroll became literary legend, and now Burning Furiously Beautiful sets the record straight, uncovering the true story behind one of America's greatest novels. Burning Furiously Beautiful explores the real lives of the key characters of the novel-- Sal Paradise, Dean Moriarty, Carlo Marx, Old Bull Hubbard, Camille, Marylou, and others. Ride along on the real-life adventures through 1940s America that inspired On the Road. By tracing the evolution of Kerouac's literary development, this book explains how it took years--not weeks--to write the seemingly sporadic 1957 novel. Through new research and exclusive interviews, this revised and expanded edition of Jack Kerouac's American Journey (2007) takes a closer look at the rise of Jack Kerouac and the beat generation, giving insight into Kerouac's family roots, his time at sea, the shocking murder that landed Kerouac in jail, his romances, and his startlingly original writing style."--Back cover.

“The best way I can describe the Four Corners neighbor­hood of Chicago is find a length of rebar, scratch a big cross into the concrete, set your feet solid in the quadrant you like best, lean back, and start shooting.” Officer Bobby Vargas is hard-edged but idealistic, a Chicago cop who stands at the epicenter of a subterranean plot that will have horrific ramifications for both himself and the entire city. Twenty-five years earlier, a gruesome murder rocked the unforgiving streets of Four Corners. Now, sud­denly, a dying Chicago paper is running a serial exposé on new evidence in that old case, threatening to implicate Bobby and his older brother, Ruben—a decorated, high-ranking detective and cop- prince of the streets. The smear campaign stirs up decades-old bad blood, leading the Vargas brothers down an increasingly twisted and terrifying path, where the sins of the past threaten to destroy what remains of the truth. As readers and critics discovered in his first novel, Calumet City, Charlie Newton’s Chicago is a landscape as brutal and poignant as any in modern crime fiction—a multi-faceted, shockingly violent labyrinth of gangland politics, political backstabbing, corporate malfeasance, and, possi­bly, hope. Start Shooting is a riveting read.

An encyclopedia designed especially to meet the needs of elementary, junior high, and senior high school students.

The bestselling workbook and grammar guide, revised and updated! Hailed as one of the best books around for teaching grammar, The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation includes easy-to-understand rules, abundant examples, dozens of reproducible quizzes, and pre- and post-tests to help teach grammar to middle and high schoolers, college students, ESL students, homeschoolers, and more. This concise, entertaining workbook makes learning English grammar and usage simple and fun. This updated 12th edition reflects the latest updates to English usage and grammar, and includes answers to all reproducible quizzes to facilitate self-assessment and learning. Clear and concise, with easy-to-follow explanations, offering "just the facts" on English grammar, punctuation, and usage Fully updated to reflect the latest rules, along with even more quizzes and pre- and post-tests to help teach grammar Ideal for students from seventh grade through adulthood in the US and abroad For anyone who wants to understand the major rules and subtle guidelines of English grammar and usage, The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation offers comprehensive, straightforward instruction.

As Jonathan Lethem put, Steve Erickson's journal of the last 18 months of the Trump Presidency "sears the page." Erickson, one of our finest novelists, has long been an astute political observer, and American Stutter, part political declaration, part humorous account of more personal matters, offers a particularly moving reminder of the democratic ideals that we are currently struggling to preserve. Written with wit, eloquence, and a controlled fury as event unfold, Erickson has left us with an essential record of our recent history, a book to be read with our collective breath held.* Steve Erickson is the author of ten novels and two books about American culture. For 12 years he was founding editor of the national literary journal Black Clock. Currently he is the film/television critic for Los Angeles magazine and a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Riverside. He has received a Guggenheim fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and Letters award, and the Lannan Lifetime Achievement award.